Rapid release of 42K or 86Rb from two distinct transport sites on the Na,K-pump in the presence of Pi or vanadate.

The rate of 86Rb or 42K release from an occluded form of the phosphorylated Na+ pump has been studied using a rapid filtration apparatus described previously. The rate constant of release is 5-15 s-1, and 42K and 86Rb dissociate at approximately the same rate. Mg2+ is required for deocclusion in the presence of Pi at a site which has the same affinity as the site involved in stabilization of E2(K) with ATP; we propose that Na,K-ATPase has only one site for Mg2+ (apart from Mg2+ complexed with ATP), that the affinity of this site for Mg2+ is increased by Pi binding and decreased by ATP binding, and that Mg2+ is bound and released in the normal transport cycle. In the presence of K+, Cs+, Rb+, or Tl+, the release of two distinct 86Rb ions can be observed, the slow release from one site ("s" site) being blocked by occupancy of the site vacated by the other ("f", fast site). By a sequence of incubations, labeled 86Rb can be placed at either site, and the rate of dissociation monitored individually; in the absence of K+, dissociation from the s site proceeds after a lag in which the f site is vacated. The results are consistent with a "flickering-gate" model of deocclusion to the extracellular pump face, in which the site is exposed to the medium only long enough for a single ion to be released. When deocclusion to the intracellular face is promoted with ATP, ions are released from both sites at the same rate, presumably because the E2----E1 conformational change is rate-limiting. Unlabeled ions co-occluded with 86Rb increase the ATP-stimulated rate of release in the order Rb+ less than Tl+ less than Cs+ less than K+; since the same rank order is observed when dissociation from the s site is monitored in the presence of these ions and MgPi we propose that the latter process proceeds toward the intracellular pump face. 86Rb release from the vanadate-inhibited enzyme has the characteristics of Pi-stimulated release but is approximately 25-fold slower. ATP binds to both the phosphorylated and vanadate-inhibited forms of Na,K-ATPase and increases the rate of deocclusion, apparently to both the intracellular and extracellular faces of the pump.